Tolkien in the opening section of The Silmarillion, the Ainulindalë, presents an explanation for evil which arose from his aesthetic understanding of creation. He shows the superiority of the good over evil by the way good can take evil, harmonize with it, and make a greater good as a result; that is, good is able to grow strong, more beautiful, as it struggles with evil and overcome it, while evil is unable to indefinitely oppose the good. As discord can... Read more
Silence in a time of injustice allows such injustice to continue. Silence in the face of the evil allows such evil to grow without opposition. To be sure, often such silence is coerced as those who stand silent do so out of fear of reprisals. Others stand silent out of ignorance. But there comes a time when people need to overcome their fear and make a stand against evil; if they do not, then they become guilty of aiding and... Read more
Holding to the teaching that no concept which we have of God can be affirmed in an absolute sense as properly being predicated to God, Dionysius took on the concepts of movement and rest, saying that neither can be attributed to God. Thus, he paradoxically wrote that neither is [God] standing, nor moving; nor at rest. But does that not suggest a contradiction? If God is not moving then he must be standing still or at rest, while if God... Read more
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him stand (Rom. 14:3 RSV). There is a misconception shared by many Catholics, and also to some degree with other Christians, that suggests that the quality of a person can be found in relation to the number of children they produce. Often, a married couple without... Read more
The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion.[1] Religious liberty is a concern for everyone. Atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, and anyone else, should not be discriminated against because of their religious beliefs and practices. The Catholic Church, following what was taught since the time of the early martyrs, declared at Vatican II that it was a basic,... Read more
There is no comparison between God and his creation; comparative predications which can be used to describe God in kataphatic theology are to be denied when God is apophatically engaged. The reason why Dionysius found it important to state that God is neither equality, similarity, inequality nor dissimilarity is that in the Divine Names, he previously had affirmed their kataphatic use when he explored how Scripture employed them while describing God: BUT since even the great and the small are... Read more
The Psalmist, pleading to God, once indicated how God’s justice could be seen in the way the wicked find their teeth destroyed: “Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! For thou dost smite all my enemies on the cheek, thou dost break the teeth of the wicked” (P. 37:7 RSV). Justice demanded it, because, metaphorically, the wicked devour the poor of the earth: “There are those whose teeth are swords, whose teeth are knives, to devour the poor from... Read more
Wealth, government, industry and science, all are goods in and of themselves. But each of them can be taken as a good over and against other, greater goods, using the limited good which they have for the sake of evil. This is how and why they can become great powers which we must resist when they are abused. As Dorothy Day explained, when we come face to face with these powers, we might feel overwhelmed, yet we must not stop... Read more
Scripture calls God one in many places, such as in the shema: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deut. 6:4 RSV). Likewise, philosophers often describe God by calling him “the One.” Those taking this predication seriously can easily misconstrue it, misunderstanding its application by reading into it a numerical signification. That is, it is easy to think of God as one being among many others, with his oneness being a numerical distinction which is used to... Read more
Come and drink of the grapes of God’s wrath. Pressed down and beaten for our iniquities The vine reveals itself in a terrible bloodbath Feeling the pressure of all external hostilities. Drink, and be merry; drink and have your fill. Drink, inebriate, drink and drink some more. Intoxicated by the divinely established thrill Drink and fall down upon the thrashing floor. Know nothing to apprehend everything, Drink the fruitful poison and die, This is the way of true life with... Read more
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